Dwindling wildlife...............

[Peter99]

15 minutes ago, Karen Wheeldon said:

At the farm where I keep a horse the farmer has grown 2 fields of wildflowers under a government scheme, walked round them last week, not one bee or butterfly 

Hi Karen

I hope you're ok? 

What a shame about the lack of bees and butterflies - all of that natural habitat and food. Good of the farmer to take part in the government scheme.

I love horses; do you have any photographs. There are two ponies in the field at the side of my house.

Peter

[Karen Wheeldon]

On my profile pic that's Bertie 

[Peter99]

2 hours ago, Karen Wheeldon said:

On my profile pic that's Bertie 

He looks a nice big boy.

Peter

[Chalky]

4 hours ago, Karen Wheeldon said:

At the farm where I keep a horse the farmer has grown 2 fields of wildflowers under a government scheme, walked round them last week, not one bee or butterfly 

Last year I saw field after field of wildflowers, more than for many a year, nowhere near the same this year, the wet weather probably has a lot to do with it

[Soulandy]

In Wales for a few days/nights at the moment near Bala. Plenty of wild weather to kill off all life, never mind wildlife

[Kathryn Magson]

I normally see plenty of swallows, swifts & house martins every year swooping over the fields where I walk my dog - some just passing through heading north on migration & others decide to spend the summer here. This year we've had a few swallows passing through - none seem to have stayed & not seen any swifts or house martins at all....

[Happy Feet]

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/its-time-to-get-rid-of-your-pet//

Read this feature the other day & links , an interesting and much studied topic .

 ( It is possible to read & the links without subscribing  )

Edited August 26 by Happy Feet

[Peter99]

12 minutes ago, Happy Feet said:

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/its-time-to-get-rid-of-your-pet//

Read this feature the other day & links , an interesting and much studied topic .

 ( It is possible to read & the links without subscribing  )

Even my vet mentioned this and said don't flea your dog every month routinely. If they're not infested with fleas don't do it - simple. I don't flea Ace any more. He's relatively free of fleas and stuff - well he doesn't scratch himself silly nor his he in any discomfort so I don't bother. I'm just one - but it's got to start somewhere.

Peter

 

[Agentsmith]

28 minutes ago, Happy Feet said:

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/its-time-to-get-rid-of-your-pet//

Read this feature the other day & links , an interesting and much studied topic .

 ( It is possible to read & the links without subscribing  )

Thats a staggering revelation.

I firmly believe in Einstien's theory, this only adds to the urgency the human race is going to find itself facing, maybe not in our generation's lifetime....but it could quite easily be sooner than we think.

 

The bee population is the biggest equation, man's existance is dependant on the insects survival....without it we don't exist.

[Greedy]

Personally I've not noticed as many wasps but I grow lots of veg which attracts a lot of butterflies especially cabbage whites. Have noticed a lot of dragon flies lately,  had loads of flying ants in July. My neighbours feed birds so we get loads of different finches, blue tit's and great tit's along with blackbirds, sparrows and starlings etc . Also had a pair of common wood peckers and as I sleep with the window open I hear a cuckoo every dawn chorus.  I only live a few miles south of Leicester city centre,  maybe another couple of miles away from countryside.  I think I'm lucky to see so much variety of animals.  Here's a picture of my garden with the veg growing 

[Peter99]

2 minutes ago, Greedy said:

Personally I've not noticed as many wasps but I grow lots of veg which attracts a lot of butterflies especially cabbage whites. Have noticed a lot of dragon flies lately,  had loads of flying ants in July. My neighbours feed birds so we get loads of different finches, blue tit's and great tit's along with blackbirds, sparrows and starlings etc . Also had a pair of common wood peckers and as I sleep with the window open I hear a cuckoo every dawn chorus.  I only live a few miles south of Leicester city centre,  maybe another couple of miles away from countryside.  I think I'm lucky to see so much variety of animals.  Here's a picture of my garden with the veg growing 

Lovely garden mate.

Peter

[Greedy]

3 minutes ago, Peter99 said:

Lovely garden mate.

Peter

Thank you Pete. 

Since lockdown it has become my place of enjoyment and relaxation especially with not so good health nowadays.

the veg tastes so good especially as I use no chemicals and be totally organic.. once it was dug over it only costs a few pounds a year on seeds and I get so much from it in many ways. 

Take care Mick

[Soulandy]

We know about the dwindling of birds, from the small song birds, to the thrushes, blackbirds, swifts, swallow etc but what seems to be on the rise is the number of pigeons flying around.  On any one day I must see at least 100, wether and in pairs or a small flock of 15 or so  all just flying in all directions.  Wether I'm sat at home, in the garden, walking  or driving about. Pigeons seem to be everywhere. Have the predators gone and the farmers stopped shooting them

[Shinehead]

1 hour ago, Soulandy said:

We know about the dwindling of birds, from the small song birds, to the thrushes, blackbirds, swifts, swallow etc but what seems to be on the rise is the number of pigeons flying around.  On any one day I must see at least 100, wether and in pairs or a small flock of 15 or so  all just flying in all directions.  Wether I'm sat at home, in the garden, walking  or driving about. Pigeons seem to be everywhere. Have the predators gone and the farmers stopped shooting them

Think the woodpigeons have urbanised, when I was young never saw one outside of the countryside now there nesting in my back garden and loads on the roofs around here they also seem to have changed diet to eat anything put in front of them even donar kebabs seem on the menu lol.

Sadly I have not seen or heard a song thrush for years.

 

[Woodbutcher]

8 minutes ago, Shinehead said:

Think the woodpigeons have urbanised, when I was young never saw one outside of the countryside now there nesting in my back garden and loads on the roofs around here they also seem to have changed diet to eat anything put in front of them even donar kebabs seem on the menu lol.

Sadly I have not seen or heard a song thrush for years.

 

The powers that be changed the General License a while back so we can't just 'remove' them as easily these days.

[Shinehead]

2 minutes ago, Woodbutcher said:

The powers that be changed the General License a while back so we can't just 'remove' them as easily these days.

Did not know that but I would imagine that the ease of getting food in urban areas has also led to the boom in numbers in towns and city much like the seagull population I was watching about 50 seagulls yesterday catching the thermals in the sky and they are now on the local playing fields in the morning looking for worms or insects I would imagine, then hitting the local landfill later I would imagine.

[Woodbutcher]

9 minutes ago, Shinehead said:

Did not know that but I would imagine that the ease of getting food in urban areas has also led to the boom in numbers in towns and city much like the seagull population I was watching about 50 seagulls yesterday catching the thermals in the sky and they are now on the local playing fields in the morning looking for worms or insects I would imagine, then hitting the local landfill later I would imagine.

Gulls always head inland at harvest time then tend to hang around for a while before heading back coastwards.

[Soulandy]

30 minutes ago, Shinehead said:

Think the woodpigeons have urbanised, when I was young never saw one outside of the countryside now there nesting in my back garden and loads on the roofs around here they also seem to have changed diet to eat anything put in front of them even donar kebabs seem on the menu lol.

Sadly I have not seen or heard a song thrush for years.

 

Yes we have had then breeding in the trees most years along with squirrels. Like a lot of folk, we fed the birds bread and the like and also feeders, but the pigeons,  squirrels and the occasional rat has put a stop to that. We still get the resident Robin and a few others passing through but nothing like years ago. A definite change going on

Edited September 1 by Soulandy

[Shinehead]

1 hour ago, Soulandy said:

Yes we have had then breeding in the trees most years along with squirrels. Like a lot of folk, we fed the birds bread and the like and also feeders, but the pigeons,  squirrels and the occasional rat has put a stop to that. We still get the resident Robin and a few others passing through but nothing like years ago. A definite change going on

Still feeding the birds here got goldfinches a Robin and a few blackbirds and a few bluetits and fortunately the woodpigeons are doing me a favour they wait for the goldfinches to feed and eat the residue that they drop so no mess under the feeders at the moment and I also check before dusk for any waste food and clear up , so hopefully no vermin encouraged. 

Watching the antics from my kitchen window is one of my early morning rituals and delights and surprised how much to see even In my medium sized garden.

 

 

Edited September 1 by Shinehead

[Derek Pearson]

I put much of the blame regarding declining wildlife in the UK firmly down to the Water Companies with their frequent regular polluting of our rivers over a long period of years (since privatisation). It's the cumulative effect.

And just look at the mess Thames Water have got themselves into.

[Geronimo]

6 minutes ago, Derek Pearson said:

I put much of the blame regarding declining wildlife in the UK firmly down to the Water Companies with their frequent regular polluting of our rivers over a long period of years (since privatisation). It's the cumulative effect.

And just look at the mess Thames Water have got themselves into.

The ironic thing Derek is we currently have a kingfisher and 3 of it's young on the pond at the moment,being trained into fishing. 

We used to get literally 100s of frogs and toads. 

Now lucky to see double figures.